Straight-talking union boss fails to be enamoured by business accolade

IT’S hardly a gushing Oscar acceptance speech – but then union boss Jack O’Connor isn’t exactly enchanted with this accolade.

“I have absolutely no control over what people in the media say about me,” the SIPTU leader said of Business & Finance magazine’s decision to award him the “tribute” of Business Person of the Month.

As one of the country’s most respected trade union leaders, notorious for his animated attacks on those who seek to make huge profits at the expense of ordinary working people, & he was somewhat bemused. “I am not clear on where it is coming from other than that I am not a businessman. I am a labour movement organiser,” he said.